Firing Squad

Death penalty opponent and Roman Catholic nun Helen Prejean was in Salt Lake City for a public lecture Tuesday evening at Westminster College. The author of “Dead Man Walking” also met with students for a luncheon.

A legislative committee has given its approval to a bill that would bring back the firing squad as an option for inmates on death row.

The drugs used in the lethal injection cocktail are manufactured by a European company that is refusing to sell it to Utah and other states. Rep. Paul Ray, R - Clearfield, says his proposed bill making the firing squad a fall back option is a preventative measure in case the state does not have or cannot buy the drugs the next time they need them.

A Utah legislator plans to run a bill that would bring back the firing squad as an option for Utah inmates sentenced to death. Since 2004 Utah inmates sentenced to death have had only one option for their execution: death by lethal injection. But Republican Representative Paul Ray says that could soon pose an issue for the state as it is becoming harder to obtain the specific drugs needed to create the injection and any new formula could be challenged in court.